At the present time—see for example the cited patents—the known system for feeding a plurality of bristles in a circular arrangement in order to insert them between a nut and a ring, has a mechanical assembly including:
a plurality of telescopic tubes each having a circular cross section, positioned at equal circumferential intervals;
clamp means upstream of the group of telescopic tubes for gripping the bundles of continuous bristles arriving from reels; and
cutting means downstream of the telescopic tubes for cutting, downstream of the tubes, the bristles of the bundles positioned in the tubes and for forming a circular exit aperture for the bristles being fed.
With this system, in order to feed the bristles in a circular array, the bristles are gripped in the proximity of the clamp means and the clamp means are then shifted toward the cutting means.
Also with this system, when it is necessary to change the diameter of the circular arrangement of the bristles being fed toward the nut and ring, for example if there is a change in the internal diameter of the ring and/or in the outside diameter of the corresponding nut, then, in order to form a circular brush having a different configuration, it is necessary to replace the aforesaid mechanical assembly, comprising telescopic tubes, clamp means and cutting means, in order to fit a different mechanical assembly, in which the telescopic tubes are positioned at equal circumferential intervals around a circumference having a lesser or greater diameter, with corresponding clamp means and cutting means.
Clearly, therefore, the operations for changing the configuration are labor-intensive and complicated.